Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

An Inconvenient Theology: Reading William Stringfellow, First Edition by First Edition

Richard Beck, professor and experimental psychologist at Abilene Christian University, has a high regard for Episcopalian Layman William Stringfellow – something he and I share in common. In 2012 he started a “project”, and it remains ongoing. The project was to first collect, then read all of the first editions (and/or first “printing’s”) of William Stringfellow published works, in chronological. Unlike here in NZ, first editions can be readily founding the US, and very affordably. Why “first editions”? Beck writes: 

“… [I] wanted to read Stringfellow's books as they came out of the crate when he first saw them. I can't explain this in any way other than wanting to make a connection with Stringfellow through space and time…” And, this is the envious part of me quoting, Beck “…found two copies that were autographed by Stringfellow. The prize of [which was] a first edition, first printing, autographed copy of My People is the Enemy…” 

So, after providing a really useful overview of Stringfellow’s theology, he’s been slowly making his way through the books and reflecting on each. Maybe he’ll complete his project, maybe he won’t, but to date he offers reflections on the following Stringfellow titles: 

A Private and Public Faith

Instead of Death

My People is the Enemy

Free in Obedience

Dissenter in a Great Society

Count It All Joy

Imposters of God. 

If you’re interested in this series, check back on Richard Beck’s blog site. If I notice he’s read / reviewed another Stringfellow book, I’ll add the link to this list. 

NT Wright: Christian Origins and the Question of God – Vol # 4

         

Paul and the Faithfulness of God – 2 Vol. by N. T. Wright is due to be released on the 1^st November 2013 

•      First book comprises Parts I and II and front matter
•      Second book has Parts III and IV plus bibliography and indices 

Can be pre-ordered from Amazon, as can Paul and His Recent Interpreters and Pauline Perspectives: Essays on Paul, 1978-2013. The latter two are also to be published and available on the 1st November 2013.

A Tradition of Interpretation

“…I do not believe that the Bible points directly to any political policy or action … at the most, the Bible (a) can frame questions in the public sector according to the will and purpose of God as that will and purpose have been discerned in the church in a long, interpretive tradition and (b) can provide specific materials that may evoke and tilt our imagination in one direction or another. Thus I do not believe that one can make direct moves toward or connections with contemporary issues, even though we – liberals and conservatives – keep trying to do just that…” 

- Walter Brueggemann, Truth Speaks to Power: The Countercultural Nature of Scripture (2013, p.p. 1-2).

Tom Wright Interviewed

I haven’t had much from Tom Wright up on this site for a while, and having had to think during the week about the relation between the “academic” and the “church” and between “theology” and “exegesis”, I thought I’d put a relatively recent interview (approx. 9 mins / not high quality) with Tom Wright @ St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. It’s nothing “heavy”, but is introductory.

A Good Friday Reflection: The Narrative of Redemption

Andrew Perriman, a thoughtful and creative theologian offers a “Good Friday” reflection on the Death of Jesus in Narrative-Historical Context. Here’s his closing section. You can read his complete reflection here. 

“The argument appears to be, therefore, that Jesus’ death was effective for the salvation of God’s people because, as the one empowered by the Spirit of God to lead a movement of eschatological renewal, Jesus pursued a path of faithful obedience to the point of death, trusting his Father to the uttermost that death would not be the end. Nothing in the argument, as far as I can see, suggests that only a God-man could do this. The outcome of this faithfulness was twofold. On the one hand, Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of God to rule over the nations until the last enemy is destroyed; on the other, God gives abundant new life to those who believe in this story—who believe that Israel’s God was justifying himself in the eyes of the world through these events.

It seems to me, therefore, that there is much to be said for David Brondos’ argument—developed mainly with Paul’s teaching in mind—in Paul on the Cross: Reconstructing the Apostle’s Story of Redemption. He suggests that Jesus’ death is not redemptive in itself; rather, “it is salvific and redemptive only in that it forms part of a story” (italics removed):

‘This involves the claim that Paul understood Jesus’ death primarily as the consequence of his dedication and faithfulness to his mission of serving as God’s instrument to bring about the awaited redemption of Israel, which would also include Gentiles throughout the world. In this case, for Paul, Jesus’ death is salvific not because it satisfies some necessary condition for human salvation in the way that most doctrines of the atonement have traditionally maintained nor because it effects some change in the situation of human beings or the world in general; rather, it is salvific because God responded to Jesus’ faithfulness unto death in seeking the redemption of others by raising him so that all the divine promises of salvation might now be fulfilled through him. (Kindle loc. 55)’…”

Mission: Responding to the “prophetic” eschatological vision;

I was catching up on some of Andrew Perriman’s latest theological reflections and was struck by his one titled: Eschatology, mission and the theological formation of the church. It was typically thought provoking and I appreciated the weaving together of theology, eschatology and Missiology. Of course, the “missional conversation” weaves together more conversations than simply those three, but it’s never less than those three – they’re critical. 

Here’s an excerpt from Andrew’s post: 

“…The turn to mission has been driven largely by the realization that the Western church is facing a crisis—perhaps a crisis of biblical proportions, as they say. We think: if we don’t get out there and do evangelism, the church will continue to shrink like the Aral Sea and eventually evaporate altogether. If we don’t get out there and do social justice stuff, etc., the church will end up as an irrelevant, unfrequented, stagnating backwater on the margins of the great swamp of life.

I think this may be a mistake—in a way, the reverse of the mistake made by Prosperity Theology. We are trying to deal with a crisis as though we are still in the land—in the sense that we are trying to solve the problem of the post-Christendom collapse of the church without eschatology, without a narrated future, without a frame within which to speak prophetically…” 

You can read the complete post here. 

The story that makes sense of Jesus’ life, mission, death and exaltation.

Andrew Perriman offers some interesting reflections on narrative / doctrine / historical-narrative (his preference) in relation to how we engage Scripture. 

Here’s how he opens his reflection, before offering his thoughtful, and indeed, useful critiques, ones with which I largely agree: 

“In an article in the latest edition of Christianity Today (“The Gospel Is More Than a Story: Rethinking Narrative and Testimony”) Leslie Fields examines the current preference expressed by many evangelicals for narrative over doctrine. She offers by way of evidence a statement made by Derek Flood in a Huffington Post article: “Christian faith is not primarily about arguing over right beliefs and doctrines, it is about letting the story of God’s grace become our story and shape our lives.” Evangelicals are falling over each other these days in their enthusiasm to insert their beliefs into the wide-open space between once-upon-a-time and happy-ever-after. Indeed we are.

Fields acknowledges in general terms the importance of narrative for the construction of Christian identity. She notes that our culture is ‘saturated with “the power of story”’. But she is concerned that the “rise of narrative in our culture and our churches, for all its good, has a dark understory”, because our culture has dismissed the “One Story” in favour of a rampant narrative pluralism:

Language and narrative now are used not to discover meaning imbedded in creation by an omnipotent Creator. Instead, they are used to create personal and subjective meanings in the face of non-meaning.

The problem we have is that believers are “increasingly accommodating the culture’s counter stories, its plots of consumerism, idolatry, and self-fulfilment”. Why? Because they simply don’t know “God’s master story”. The situation has not been helped by bad habits of Christian instruction, but the underlying problem was identified by Hans Frei in The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative (1980): enlightenment modes of thought have led to the fragmentation of knowledge. The result? We cannot see the wood for the trees. Or the trees for the branches. Or the branches for the leaves.

To this extent, in Fields’ analysis, the turn to narrative has been all to the good…”

You can feel the “but” coming, can’t you…? Read the rest of Andrews post here. 

The Romans Road

Andrew Perriman is a regular read for me, and his recent post on one of my favourite books of the NT – Romans – is a good one. 

Here’s how he concludes it: 

“…We have domesticated evangelism. We have reduced it to the unimaginative, repetitive level of the door-to-door selling of life insurance. We should be appalled at this. Modern evangelism is virtually calculated not to disturb the status quo. Evangelism should challenge the bedrock of our culture. It should shake the bedrock of the modern church, for that matter. How are we now to respond to the proclamation that Jesus has been made judge and ruler of the nations when, to all intents and purposes, he has been dethroned by the all-powerful gods of our secular age? Evangelism, I think, ought to be a very disturbing activity for everyone concerned…” 

I agree with him! 

* Double-Click on diagram to enlarge. 

You can read his full post here.  The image accompanying this post was created by Andrew.

Maggi Dawn on Sabbath & Church

Continuing to catch up with talks from Greenbelt Gatherings, I’ve been listening to my friend Maggi Dawn from 2003. Her talk being titled: Church in the Noughties. It’s one talk, but has two themes running through it. The first is to do with the Fourth of the Ten Commandments – the “4^th” having to do with Sabbath. Maggi traces the history – a “whistle-stop journey” – of Sabbath from the Old Testament (or “First Testament”) to the Reformation (Post-Reformation). While the second theme, building on the first, was Maggi thought’s on the importance of gathered Church with reflections on “alt-worship”, “emergent church” and other “experiments” on the edge or beyond the edge of traditional “Sunday” church.  It was the latter part of the talk that I found most interesting, confirming for me that my own thinking about established church & new forms of church follow Maggi’s very closely. 

“…What shape should work, Church and the Sabbath take in 21st century, western culture – post-evangelical, alternative, emerging, liquid, virtual? Should we abandon traditional Sunday worship or fight to revive it?” 

It’s not a long talk, but you’ll find it here.  

p.s. If you like what she has to say, check out her books too. She’s a very gifted writer and communicator (see her blog).

Photo credit - Jonny Baker.

The Prophets and the Environment

I received an interesting set of notes recently: the Eco-Justice Notes. It features a reflection that links Walter Brueggemann’s reading of “The Prophets” to environmental and ecological issues. It’s worth a read. It’s written by Paul & Jane Barru. Here’s an excerpt: 

“…Walter Brueggemann gives us that gift in his brand-new book, "The Practice of Prophetic Imagination: Preaching an Emancipating Word." Brueggemann breaks open a reading of prophetic oracles where unavoidable consequences are more important than direct punishment. 

In this fresh reading, the bad news of the prophets is not that God will come in a dramatic and unexpected way to smite us, but rather that God will not intervene to protect us from the inherent consequences of our pervasive sin. 

Such a prophetic word about consequences is painfully relevant in this time of ecological devastation. We know full well what we are doing wrong -- warping the climate, polluting the biosphere, destroying habitat and pushing species into extinction, exhausting scarce resources, exploiting livestock and workers, seeking our own comfort and privilege at any cost to our neighbors or descendents. 

The biblical style of prophecy tells us the distressing news that, when we so blatantly violate God's intention for creation, the expected consequences will follow. 

Brueggemann writes about the prophetic "therefore" which connects cause and effect, "a connectedness that dominant imagination believes, with its power and wisdom and wealth, it can overcome." He draws examples -- from Hosea, Amos, Micah and Isaiah -- where, in legal terms: 

‘The 'therefore' stands between an indictment and a sentence. The indictment is a recital of the commandments that have been violated ... The sentence concerns the dismantling of creation. ... The daring 'therefore' makes a connection that depends on a robust creation theology. The argument is that a violation of the commandments of Sinai results in the collapse of creation.’ 

The "therefore" expresses a creation theology because it recognizes the interconnectedness of all of creation, of humans and the rest of creation together. It proclaims that all of creation is ordered and structured to work well within the shape of God's shalom, and that it will not function when shalom is violated…” 

You can read the complete reflection here.